Download PDF | Xiao Li (editor) - Major Archaeological Discoveries Along the Chinese Silk Road (Silk Road Research Series)-Springer (2023).
143 Pages
Since the international development strategy known as “Belt and Road” was officially proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the field of Silk Road studies has attracted renewed attention around the globe. Springer Nature, together with the SDX Joint Publishing Company, has built upon this development with their new academic publication, the Silk Road Research Series (SRRS). As a high-level, interdisciplinary academic platform, the Series will provide both established academics and ambitious early-career researchers an opportunity to present their work. While a considerable part of the research related to the Silk Road is being pursued in China and being published in Chinese, we consider it vital to encourage and assist Chinese experts with publishing their research results in English and in a Western style in the Series. As a new conceptual approach, the focus of SRRS will not only be on the historical, extensive Silk Road trade network that connected the Eurasian civilizations in the distant past; it will also shed light on the contemporary political and economic dynamics that shape the new Silk Road. The content will cover a broad spectrum of fields, including history, archaeology, linguistics, religious studies, geography, art and economics from prehistoric to modern times, and ranging from the Mediterranean and Egypt to Western and Central Asia and China.
Preface of Silk Road Research Series
In recent years, conducting research on the Silk Road has become a popular trend in the international academia. Without a doubt, this is directly related to China’s Belt and Road initiative. At the same time, we notice that this particular trend is also a reflection on how the academia in the East and the West leverage the topic and engage in dialogue. Furthermore, this represents efforts by scholars in the post-Cold War world to promote direct dialogue on issues that are of common interest, rather talking past each other. There are two senses about the Silk Road. The narrow sense is about economic and cultural exchanges between ancient China and countries in Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and the Mediterranean region. On the other hand, the broad sense refers to all kinds of exchanges between the East and the West. As such, understanding of the Silk Road in the academia has long been tilted towards the popular narrative, and a majority of Silk Road research, in fact, caters to the taste of the general public. Nevertheless, the Silk Road epitomizes all kinds of exchanges of material and spiritual cultures across a vast area, from China to Rome, and from the equator to the North Pole. As such, the development of Eastern and Western civilizations and their interactions in Asia and Europe can be understood within the Silk Road framework. In this vein, many far-sighted scholars have long ago started making use of this broad concept to consolidate the many common points emerged from a variety of academic research.
This also leads to the emergence of many issues that are of interest to both the East and the West. In particular, the many archaeological relics unearthed at old Silk Road towns have become the focal points in Silk Road research, as these relics exemplify the intermixture of Eastern and Western civilizations. Silk Road towns like Chang’an, Dunhuang, Turpan, Bamiyan, Ai-Khanum, Samarkand, and Palmyra have attracted the attention of scholars, and the related Silk Road research is also linked to a wide variety of disciplines, such as archaeology, history, Dunhuang Studies, Iranian studies, and classical studies. Over the years, there have been many scholarly works on the Silk Road. Yet, on its own, Silk Road is not an official academic discipline. Therefore, the relevant research results are classified under the related disciplines. In China, they are often seen through the lens of history of Chinese-Western communications, history of Sino-foreign relations or history of cultural exchange between China and the world. That said, we understand that a stringent Silk Road research requires a scholarly journal about the Silk Road. In the past, due to the popularization of concepts relating to the Silk Road, most magazines dealing with the topic were focused on content that were of popular interest.
In fact, only a few titles were scholarly in nature. In the early 1990s, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, a journal published by the Institute of Silk Road Studies, which was in turn founded by Ikuo Hirayama, played an active role in advancing scholarly research on the Silk Road. Unfortunately, the passing away of Ikuo Hirayama had dealt a severe blow to the journal, as it was unable to continue operation. On the other hand, The Silk Road, supported solely by American scholar Prof. Daniel C. Waugh since 2000, has also become unsustainable despite its rich content. Fortunately, under China’s Belt and Road initiative, the academia and publishers in China have shown a great deal of interest in Silk Road research. Within the past two to three years, we have seen the birth of numerous scholarly journals bearing the “Silk Road” name. Among them is Silk Road Research Series, a large-scale and comprehensive scholarly journal edited by Li Xiao and published by Sanlian Bookstore. The first volume, in Chinese, has already been published, and it deals with wide-ranging subject matters, such as archaeology, history, the arts, language, religion, and culture. Now, we are launching the English version of Silk Road Research Series, and the content is sourced from the Chinese version as well as fresh contributions.
The majority of the authors in the English version are Chinese scholars, and in some senses, this represents the contributions of Chinese authors to this field of study. We also hope that we can engage in dialogue with our international counterparts through this medium to advance research on the Silk Road. As the mother tongue of the authors and editors is not English, it is a challenge for them to publicize their works in this language. We hope that through our concerted efforts, this English-language journal will be more refined in the not-so-distant future. Beijing, China Xinjiang Rong
Foreword: Prospect and Retrospect
In June of this year, Professor Li Xiao asked me to write a preface for his edited book The Studies of Silk Road, and I was really frightened and nervous, thus I kept putting it off. I have the impression that writing a preface to a scholar’s work is a matter of friendship, but more often, it is a sublime from a sophisticated scholar. As far as I am concerned, the former may be compatible, while the latter I might not be qualified. However, since I have agreed to do so, I have to complete this preface, which is not in a style of preface, as a contribution to my friend Li Xiao’s academic project. Since the 1980s, the archaeology, history, geography, and other disciplines associated with the Silk Road have become prominent in China, and the academic works sprung up. Even the academic achievements related to archaeology have been impressive. It can be said that the development of archaeology and the depth of research results have played a key role in enriching the study of the Silk Road.
The archaeology of the Silk Road in China is based on the archaeology of Western and frontier provinces (regions) of China (the field of study also includes adjacent countries). Due to the specificity of these regions, the archaeology of the Silk Road is both intrinsic to the construction of the discipline and problem-oriented, both of which need to be balanced. From the point of view of academic research, this concept is both historical and dynamic, and its field of study is also characterized by international and regional exchanges, so that the content of research is also international; along with the emergence of sound theories, materials, and new tools, the discipline is becoming increasingly mature; with new materials, new results, and new understanding as the main features of the “Silk Road ” archaeology, we promote our understanding of the ancient interaction. In this way, Silk Road archaeology increasingly become the core of today’s academic area and gradually become one of the popular subdisciplines of Chinese archaeology.
The “Silk Road” was first mentioned only in relation to the Han Dynasty in Chinese history and as a single silk trade route. Since the late 19th century, it has become synonymous with cultural exchanges between East and West, with an increasingly broad connotation. As far as archaeology is concerned, it includes all phases from the Palaeolithic Period to the Tang and Song dynasties, with many archaeological projects containing the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and historical periods, and covering a wide range of topics. In terms of form, most projects are based on archaeological research, while combining with various new scientific and technological means, historical documents, and carrying out holistic multidisciplinary research to extract the maximum amount of information to achieve good results, where this has become the most important aspect of academic achievements in the development of Chinese archaeology over the past century. In terms of theoretical construction achieved by the discipline of frontier archaeology, the outcomes and research history of frontier archaeology have begun to be sorted out. In terms of methodology, the archaeology, ethnicity, and religion of the frontier region have been incorporated into the research horizon to seek the way of historical truth.
In particular, the study of the archaeology of the Han and Tang dynasties is more problem-oriented, highlighting the central government’s jurisdiction and governance of the border areas and the process of cultural exchange between the mainland and the border areas during and after the Han and Tang dynasties, and conducting a comprehensive archaeological study of ancient city sites, relics along the Silk Road and Buddhist sites during the Han and Tang dynasties. It will show the process of social identification at the border areas (all ethnic groups) with the Chinese family and deepen the understanding of the diversity in uniformity of Chinese civilization. Studies have shown that the archaeology of the Silk Road is becoming more and more advanced, involving the basic theory of archaeological disciplines, the identification and interaction of archaeological cultures, ancient environment and biology, physical anthropology and DNA genetic research, flora and fauna, metallurgical history, and other aspects. All of this can be seen as a multifaceted and multi-angle exploration and description of the social development in the prehistoric and historical periods touched by the archaeology of the Silk Road.
Although the depth and breadth of these studies are not as complete as they could be and may not have reached the point of accurately tracing the prehistoric societies in this region, the researchers have begun to pry or are resolving the obstacles that lie in the way of exploration, and thus, the future is promising. The basic features of Palaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological cultures in the archaeology of the Silk Road have always been a matter of concern for scholars. Although the accurate dating of these sites and the stratigraphic problems still limit the researchers to study these remains in depth, the exploration never stops. In the study of Bronze Age archaeological culture, although the focus has been “coincidentally” on the zoning and staging of Bronze Age archaeological culture in Xinjiang, which is not only a requirement of the development stage of research but also indicates the importance of this topic in the construction of the framework of archaeological culture in Xinjiang, we have made great advancement. The research design from the perspective of natural science in recent years has covered such important topics as the archaeological early metallurgical development of the Silk Road and its relationship with the surrounding areas, which is also an important element in archaeological research. The application of natural science and technology in archaeology has also opened up some new research fields and expanded the research horizon.
The maturation of technologies such as starch granules, plant microsomes, and diet analysis has promoted new progress in the field of plant and animal archaeology on the Silk Road, including some very important topics, such as the spread of wheat in Xinjiang and the emergence of domestic horses. The study of ancient races in the Xinjiang region has been the exclusive domain of Western researchers for a long time, since 1929, when A. Keith published his study of skull data from burials in the northeastern Taklamakan Desert. In the context of the increasing research in Chinese archaeology and bioanthropology, the use of human mitochondrial DNA genetic data and the use of molecular genetic methods to study the ethnography of the ancient inhabitants around the Silk Road began to take off, which has attracted a great attention. Based on the continuous discovery of new materials, research has also been carried out in depth, with the following main features: The first aspect is manifested in a new stage in the construction of archaeological disciplines. On top of the accumulation of abundant materials, scholars have become more and more comprehensive in their understanding and consideration of the archaeological framework of prehistory (Bronze Age) in Xinjiang. Based on a series of studies, Chen Ge (陈戈) successively developed his research of the prehistoric period (“Silk Road”) in Xinjiang, dividing the prehistoric culture before Han into clear references to the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic Age, Bronze Age, and Early Iron Age; Shui Tao (水涛 1993) divided the prehistoric (mainly Bronze Age) remains in Xinjiang into eight regions and comprehensively and systematically summarized and analysed the prehistoric cultural pattern in Xinjiang; An Zhimin (安志敏1996) proposed that the Tarim Basin be the centre and divided the area centred on the Tarim Basin into ten cultural sub-regions and pointed out the differences among the regions. Han Jianye (韩建业2005) proposed the concept of staging and genealogy of Bronze Age-Early Iron Age cultures in Xinjiang, and divided ten sub-regions, and discussed the cultural nature of the above-mentioned remains and their connection with the surrounding area; Guo Wu (郭物 2012)’s discussion of the interrelationships of prehistoric cultures in Xinjiang and their connections with the outside world is particularly in-depth.
Shao Huiqiu (邵会秋), Liu Xuedang (刘学 堂), Ruan Qiurong (阮秋荣), and Jia Weiming (贾伟明) Cong Dexin (丛德新) also contributed in the discussion. With the fully consideration, the study is characterized by an increasingly detailed analysis of the construction forms of the remains, burial customs and other elements which is based on the study of pottery assemblages and other accompanying burial objects. The second aspect is the increasing depth of research on cultural origins (East-West cultural exchange), social development, and subsistence patterns. These researches are also one of the foundations of the archaeological study of the Bronze Age “Silk Road” in Xinjiang. Li Shuicheng (李水城 2005) conducted an in-depth study on the prehistoric cultural links between eastern Xinjiang and the Ganqing region, arguing that both eastern Xinjiang and the Ganqing region were important channels for the spread of early bronze smelting technique and cultural exchanges between the East and the West, as well as intermediary areas linking the Yellow River and Central Asian civilizations. Gong Guoqiang (龚国强 1997) discussed the unearthed and collected artefacts such as mirrors with handles, square plates, and bronze Fu (鍑) in the Yili Valley, pointing out their similarity in morphology and age to the remains of the Saka culture in the Seven Rivers Valley of Central Asia and the Tagar culture in South Siberia. Lin Yun (林沄 2008) pointed out that the Chemurchek type is from a different tradition of archaeological culture from the Afanasyevo and Andronovo cultures, and that the influence of Chemurchek on Bronze Age archaeological culture in Xinjiang was widespread, even to the south of the Tianshan Mountains and to the East of Xinjiang.
In recent years, along with the diversity of archaeological data and the depth of research, scholars have increasingly focused on the social development and subsistence patterns of the Bronze Age in the Xinjiang region. In a series of papers published by Wang Jianxin (王建新), Cong Dexin, and Jia Weiming, the level of development of animal husbandry is discussed, and the early nomadic mode of this period-the seasonal (cyclical) transhumance of crowds and the possibility of its existence are explored as well. The third area of progress is that multidisciplinary research has become broader and deeper, with achievements in bioanthropology, ancient DNA research, and research on plants, animals, and various organic matter artefacts; research on plant flotation and plant microsomes, as well as research on the date of the emergence of wheat, corn, and millet, and the routes of dissemination, are also gaining new results. The fourth part is the increasingly widespread practice of new concepts in archaeology and the rapid progress in the application of new technologies due to technological advances. In the last decade, various new technologies, such as aerial photography and remote sensing, have been applied to archaeological practice more and more commonly. These include the widely accepted concepts of GIS and landscape archaeology, which have also provided new means and ways of understanding the archaeological study of the Silk Road. Finally, two points I believe that in future “Silk Road” archaeology should also focus on: First, we should focus on the study of the archaeological culture of the “Silk Road” around the Tarim Basin. The Tarim Basin should be considered as a closely related cultural unit, and the study and understanding of archaeological culture and interaction in the region is an important part of the archaeological study of the Silk Road in Xinjiang. At present, the exploration of early Bronze Age archaeological cultures study in the marginal region of the Tarim Basin is still in its initial stage.
At the same time, further exploration of other areas around the Tarim Basin and the establishment of a unified standard for distinguishing different types of archaeology are still to be further explored. It is believed that a deeper understanding of the remains around the Tarim Basin will provide further reliable background information for the understanding of the ancient Chinese texts, such as the Records of the History and the Book of Han, about the Western states and the basic aspects of the prehistoric Xinjiang region. We should pay attention to the study on the relationship between prehistoric archaeological culture and the “Silk Road”. Xinjiang is located in the key crux where the cultural exchanges between China and the West took place, the in-depth study of early archaeological culture in Xinjiang, for the interpretation of the origin, development, and specific connotations of the “Silk Road”, have a fundamental role. Compared with the relatively abundant archaeological research on the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty and beyond, the cultural exchanges between China and the West before the Han Dynasty, dating back to 2000 B.C. or even earlier (the pre-Silk Road period), still have a long way to go. The perspective of observation should also be broader, paying due attention to the exchanges with the ancient Indus Valley. Along with the in-depth study of the prehistory and Bronze Age archaeology of the Silk Road, the background of the Silk Road and the regional cultural interactions that existed at various times will be interpreted in a comprehensive and multi-dimensional manner, which will greatly contribute to the comprehension of the Silk Road and the cultural exchanges between China and the West. In fact, the “Silk Road” is the inevitable result of thousands of years of cultural exchanges between East and West. Beijing, China November 2022 Dexin Cong
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